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Sunday, June 23, 2013

A Summer Brunch Menu

Almond-filled Sticky Buns

Mini Frittatas

Canadian Bacon Slices

Fresh Fruit

It seems life is busy for everyone we know, packed full of important must-do and want-to-do things that fill up the calendar and keep us all going in different directions. Today we enjoyed a pause in the activity and lingered over brunch with some neighbors. The menu was simple, much of it prepped ahead of time, and offered variations of a few old favorites. My goal was to enjoy interesting company and good conversation, not to spend ages in the kitchen fussing over complicated items.

Photo: Almond-Filled Sticky Buns look quite tidy in the pan

Awesome Sticky Buns are RL's favorite breakfast treat, but I rarely bake them unless we can share a large batch with company. This familiar recipe was reworked last night on an emergency basis - I ran out of brown sugar to sprinkle inside the dough before rolling it up. Drat! I did not want to drive to the store again. Hmmmm, white sugar with cinnamon could substitute, but it wouldn't bring enough flavor to the party. A can of Solo Almond Filling would substitute for the brown sugar as an experiment.

Photo: Solo Almond Filling is a favorite for coffee cakes, and now sticky buns

Result: the flavor addition was terrific, but the warm sticky buns were too moist to eat neatly out of hand. We were polite and used forks, at least at first, and no one complained about the flavor or the messy fingers.

Photo: Soft, gooey, messy and definitely GOOD

This almond filling substitution still needs some tweaking, but it's definitely worth working on... after we deal with the nine-bun pan that still remains uneaten. Two varieties ofFrittata Muffins provided some tasty protein choices. Note: These mini frittatas were prepared earlier and went directly from fridge to a 375 F oven, requiring an extra 8 minutes of cooking time to set the centers, roughly 23 minutes in total.

The second batch of mini frittatas combined cooked Basque chorizo chunks, diced sweet peppers, fresh cilantro, pepper jack cheese and chopped red onion. This egg mixture was flavored with a generous teaspoon of hot sauce, dried cilantro, salt and pepper and a dash of smokey Spanish paprika. Served with salsa, sour cream and avocado chunks this SW favorite made its way onto several plates.The fresh strawberries were colorful but too lacking in sweetness and berry taste to serve them as is. Cut green grapes, a handful of shredded fresh mint and a quarter cup of our favorite Minty Honey Lime Sauce took care of that concern. Presto! a fresh fruit salad with flavor. Add a bowl of fresh, local cherries, a plater of warm Canadian bacon and brunch was complete.

We all enjoyed the menu, but the best part of today's brunch was the company we shared it with.